Grand Rapids Symphony will assemble its biggest orchestra of the season, some 90 musicians in all, for Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. At its premiere in 1937, the audience openly wept through the slow movement, which evokes the resilience of the suffering Soviet people through the 1930s. At its conclusion, the ovation lasted well over a half hour. George Li, a young Chinese-American pianist and winner of the Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, joins the orchestra for Rachmaninoff’s mighty Piano Concerto No. 2. With its sentimental second movement and fiendish finale, it’s one of the most popular works ever composed for piano and orchestra. So popular, it’s made its way into many movies including Billy Wilder’s 1955 film, The Seven Year Itch, and Clint Eastwood’s 2010 film, Hearafter. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 15-16, in DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW. Tickets start at $18 adults, $5 students.